'Ode to Joy'

I read my daughter’s Dec. 3 email from Italy. It is true that I feel so good because of who she is. Sometimes I feel guilty for letting her life make me feel good. But that’s the way it is. In the email she writes about her own ennui but her passion and hope and quality of character make me feel good because she reminds me of so many things I’ve known. She wants things and she goes after them and though things go wrong and she gets the blues, she remains constant even when she’s complaining that she feels lazy.

I imagine all the friends and family reading it, which she sends copies to. I know they’re very impressed (probably some of them a bit jealous) for all she is doing. She’s a whipper snapper but she feels lazy, she said. I have to laugh. This is not a lazy young woman. This is a woman who is doing things none of us have done. She is seeing things and people none of us will probably ever see. She’s awesome to me and I can’t help but feel proud. Her spirit is so strong.